Open Water

do you smell the wax? Open Water made an all-too-rare foray into the glossy black world of vinyl on this show, of necessity, since the B Boys’ new whack wouldn’t see release til the next morning. so worth all the technial miasma it took, just to get one song to play from one record on one turntable. what were once habits… great new love from INVSN, Oh Sees, Imaad Wasif, Ariel Pink… oh, and Iggy has yet another project.

i started the day with 13 tracks for the typical 1-hour show, but Jason had to go to the circus so it became a 2-hour show. then i saw my elder daughter at the station. i had a fistful of almonds cuz i didn’t eat all day. gave a nod to Tyler & Monica & Steph & Zach, then rushed out the door to do the 405 hustle up to the Echo to catch Merchandise, B Boys & Chasms — which was surreal and sublime and just damn good. here’s what the 2 hours sounded like.

show 54 comes on the heels of a literal Earth-shattering event, as our Commander-in-Grief lights a match in the heart of Paris, just to watch it burn. hence, Bob’s Burgers. and some splintering punk. and a dash of David Lynch to put it all back to square. dig.

show 53 kicks off with Tall Juan, simply because that’s the way he’d want it. then careens into some scintillating new-ish GBV & Black Lips, before diving into underground LA and emerging again in the early ‘80s with Tears for Fears driving the car. where the day takes you.

show 52 heralds indie darlings Perfume Genius & Johnny Jewel, and the return of the tireless Paul Weller — who squeezes another album for the ages out of his bare British hands

show 51 wasn’t contemplated as a rush job. but rush jobs never are. blame would be shared by the studio equipment and its human operator for the flub that transposed Waxahatchee for Cayetana. after that, it was more civil — and surprisingly cohesive.

the devil is in the details. and the electronics. and the production room. and the headphones. some said it coulda been English Beat saxophonist Saxa, from the great beyond. turned out it was the electrician.

show 49 puts us back on-track, with some fuzzy Ron Gallo, some Kraut-y Trans Am, a little Little Star and a big Big Star. plus Car Seat Headrest do the Smiths, and we try to play vinyl without blowing a fuse. see what happens.

show 48 is a super-special pledge drive show, and we all know how much people love pledge drives. it is what it is — we can’t run this thing on wishes. Beach Slang does the Plimsouls, the Plimsouls do themselves, and the boogie hits in the last 15. come for the begging, stay for the party.

a couple insolent tweens storm the station, interspersing the cynical alt-rock with their merriment at just-being-alive. it’s ultimately to no end, as the likes of Uranium Club, Damaged Bug, INVSN & GBV make it thru the barricades anyhow. off to Coachella…

show 46 starts off like one of those sketchy bars you wander into after pulling off the freeway. pretty soon you find yourself in an unwanted conversation that turns surprisingly heady and coherent. you drink a little, dance a little, share too much, forget to pay, can’t find your car, but it’s all ok. for now.

show 45 is a remote affair, as the host steps away to attend to another job -- then proceeds to screw up the assembly of the show in post. (how much genius is lost in post? we may never know.) but Open Water is its own organism, so the show goes on, with the likes of Dream Machine, Sacred Paws, The New Year, Spiral Stairs, and more and more and more…

show 44 features British, Australian and American bands, cooked up in a heady stew by its Irish-American host — whose youngest daughter joins in the fun in the last few minutes, just to give him some needed context. PINS, NE-HI, Dick Diver, The Moonlandingz… what could go wrong? and what more could you want? and what?

show 43 celebrates the glory that is the SXSW Music Festival, where Open Water was hunkered down for 3 days at the BrooklynVegan/SoS showcase. the best of the fest includes the likes of Cherry Glazerr, Rolling Blackouts, Dude York, Everyone is Dirty and Jay Som — all present and plugged in

show 42 is a semi-local/semi-remote affair from SXSW, resulting in questionable audio quality for the intros, but otherwise celebrating some of the bands to see . Hollerado channels Gang of Four, R Stevie Moore elevates antisociability to high art, and the 1975 show us baby pictures

the SXSW Express hits town, nodding vigorously to Beach Slang, Heat, Priests, Bleached and more Austin-bound bands. also something clean(!) from Sleaford Mods (though they had to be wrestled to the ground to elicit it)

No Men, No Joy, No Thank You. all the contrarian indie bands are present and accounted for. there’s even a languid Tim Darcy instrumental for all of you who’ve had a hard week. (all of US, that is.)

late winter malaise rolls on with Rolling Blackouts C.F., Dutch Uncles, The Octopus Project, and other stuff that makes spring & summer barely perceptible. plus an oldie from Stiff Records — just cuz

good Valentine’s Day? good. here’s some more candy. new Wire, old Wipers — plus PINS, PWR BTTM, Cayetana, Bleached, Beach Slang, Beachheads and more.

show 37 seeks solace in a spate of ACLU benefit albums, wants some of what The Courtneys are having, and ultimately finds Kate Tempest even more pessimistic than we’d thought possible.